Fall of Byzantium
by gayle dayle bayle
Summary: May 29, 1453 - after over a thousand years, the city of Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire and was made into it's new capital. Sadiq had not come here expecting to have to kill someone, but it appears that he is left with little choice.


"Helena."

"Sadiq," a rustle of fabric. A woman, sitting alone and in a darkened room, rearranged her skirt. She did not look at her visitor.

"Why are you still here, Helena?" he asked, taking one faltering step forward before stopping still in the doorway.

"Isn't it obvious? One of us will not live to see tomorrow, and it certainly isn't you," the woman - Helena - said, with a surprising amount of calmness for a woman recognizing her own death.

"Please, Helena, nobody has to die today," Sadik replied, desperation coloring his voice. He took one, two, three steps further into the room, just on the edge of the light spilling in from the hall. The rest of the room was in darkness, except for a patch of light coming from the window that shone on Helena.

"Are you blind, Sadiq, or just stupid," Helena asked sharply, turning her head towards him for the first time. Sadiq barely restrained himself from gasping in shock, for her, once a rich and beautiful brown, was now streaked through with grey. "Many have already died here today, and they continue to die. My people," and here she paused to look him in the eye, "are being killed. By your men. Is it not only right that I die with them?"

Sadiq gulped. She was angry - of course she was, she had every right to be. "I merely meant that none of _our kind_ have to die today, Helena, of course you have a right to die with your people, but-"

"Then get it over with, _boy_," Helena snapped. "You have a sword, don't you? Use it. God knows what your soldiers are doing right now, I can feel it."

Before he could recognize what he was doing, Sadiq was fumbling to unsheathe his sword, palms sweatier than they had any right to be. He had always obeyed Helena's word as best he could, admired her, but this was too much - she couldn't possibly be asking him to do this.

"I-I don't want to kill you," he whispered. "I'm not sure I can."

Helena cocked her head, almost curious. "But you've killed before, haven't you? Both humans and our kind."

"Of course I have, but - that's not the point. You're different, Helena," Sadiq pleaded.

"How? How am I different, Sadiq, tell me, how?" Helena demanded, standing up.

"Because I love you, Helena, I always have," Sadiq confessed.

Helena wrinkled her nose. "Come here."

Sadiq opeyed, approaching her until they stood merely a pace apart. Helena looked up at him, gaze unwavering. Shadow fell across Sadiq's face.

"My, how you've grown," she murmured, laying a hand on his cheek. "But height or not, you are still but a boy who does not know the meaning of love. I will not condemn myself to a slow and painful death, growing weaker every die, just for the infatuation of some… _child_."

A flash of anger in Sadiq's eyes. "It's not infatuation. I know what I feel."

Helena retracted her arm to her side, sweeping around to behind him, coming up close enough that she forced Sadiq to turn around and stumble back. Now their positions were reversed - she in the dark, he in the light.

"If it's really love you feel, then prove," Helena commanded. "Prove it by killing me. After all, is that not what love is? To do what is best for your dearest, even if you know you will suffer?"

Sadiq dearly wanted to protest that no, that was _not_ what love was, love was a beautiful thing that didn't lead to you killing the object of your affections, but looking again into Helena's eyes… he couldn't bring himself to say so.

"This isn't about me, is it, Helena," he said, adjusting his grip on his sword.

Almost immediately, she deflated, looking down at the ground, arms hanging limp by her side. "No, it's not," she said. "I'm afraid that if I do not die with Byzantium, then my son will, and I won't allow that. He has spent so long a child, and to die while still so young...no, I won't have it."

"I understand."

Helena straightened up, proud and tall and strong as she once stood when she was once an empire stretching from the shores of the Mediteranaen to the shore of the Indus River. "Take care of him, Sadiq. Promise me you will."

"I will," Sadiq swore, right before plunging his blade into her chest.

* * *

Sadiq did not allow himself to cry at the death of the woman he loved. Maybe later, but now was not the time. He sheathed his sword and left.

He had a child to find.

Helena's son ended up being in the nursery - rather unsurprising, as it wasn't far. Also unsurprising was the fact that he was the only one still in it, as everyone else had fled.

"Where is my mother?" the boy asked quietly.

He was physically about six or seven - too young to fight by half, Sadiq noted - with brown hair and green eyes that were uncomfortably intelligent. He had the same curl of hair that Helena had - used to have, Sadiq reminded himself.

"What's your name?" Sadiq asked.

The child refused to answer. "Where is my mother?" he demanded.

"Look, kid, tell you what. If you tell me your name, I'll tell you where your mom is. Okay?" Sadiq said.

He thought it over for a minute before nodding solemnly. "Herakles."

"Okay, good. I'm Sadiq. Come with me," he ordered.

"You said you would tell me where my mother is," Herakles said stubbornly.

"Later," Sadiq said.

"No. Now. Where is she!" Herakles was getting louder now, not quite yelling but almost.

"I'll tell you, but you _need_ to come with me," Sadiq said. He didn't want to think about what would happen to him if his soldiers found him before he could get Herakles out of here. At best, he could look forward to a human lifetime as a slave, and at worst - best not to think about it.

"No!" Herakles yelled.

Sadiq lunged forward, grabbing him by the wrists and pulling him out of the room. Herakles was yelling now, screaming for his mother and crying, alternately dragging and kicking his feet.

"Where is she! Where is my mother!" he shrieked, trying to twist out of Sadiq's grip.

"She's gone, okay!" Sadiq snarled, turning around to face the boy. Herakles froze in shock, mouth clicking shut and body going limp. Sadiq immediately fixed his face, making his expression gentle and voice soft, quiet.

"She's gone."

**NOTES:**

I feel like aph Turkey was around as one of the several nomadic tribes long before the Ottoman Empire was even an idea, but even so, Ancient Greece always saw him as this, like, kid from Anatolia. This is not helped by the fact that he's maaaybe physically 18 or 19 here. Also, don't listen to what she says about love - she doesn't actually believe it. Speaking of, what Sadiq feels for her is definitely more of a schoolboy crush than anything, but he never stopped calling it love so like...thats sort of a creep move.

As to why ancient greece is still alive in 1453: it's canon that she was killed by turkey, so i interpret this as her going on to represent the Byzantine Empire

When Sadiq says that Herakles is "too young to fight by half," this is a reference to how in the Ottoman Empire during this time period, boys aged 12 were recruited to be part of the army.

PLEASE NOTE that I'm, like, 75% sure that during the Byzantine Empire Instanbul was called Constantinople by most people, but apparently there was a Greek settlement there some 2000 years prior called Byzantium, so pretend thats why Helena's calling it that.


End file.
